Restaurant Sales – DC – January 2022

Our Metrics They Are a-Changin’ with Monstrous January Comebacks

No need to adjust your screens folks- with a new year comes a new (or rather, old) way we are showing you DMV restaurant sales metrics. 

Throughout 2021 we’ve been showing sales by segment, overall and weighted monthly averages compared to 2019. We can all agree the typical method of comparing year over year (2021 to 2020) did not make sense with what a dumpster fire 2020 was, making 2019 the last “normal” year for restaurant sales. 

Now that we’re getting into 2022 sales metrics, we thought the best way to move forward was to go back to year over year, comparing numbers to 2021. As rough and tumble as 2021 was, it was a hell of a lot more consistent than 2020 and is likely our new “normal” in terms of variants and other lingering issues caused by the pandemic popping up from time to time. 

We’ve also included a chart just for this month comparing YOY and YO2019 overall sales, showing that even with all the hurdles being thrown at the industry, we are still on an upward trajectory which means…

Restaurants are poised to make a strong comeback in 2022 (we’re talking #FreeBritney comeback strong), forecasted to hit $898B in sales.  

January continued on it’s positive YOY trend despite variants and cold, winter weather keeping diners at home, and even saw a mid-month dip in delivery sales! The real hero of the story here is Full Service’s weighted monthly average comeback from 2020 throughout 2021, and January continuing that trend ending up at 56.1% compared to January 2021. Fast Casual remained steady as a rock, ending January at 6.9%. 

By segment, both Fast Casual and Full Service ended the month on a high, at 38.4% and 94.7% (!!!) YOY 7-day moving average, respectively, and overall DMV restaurant sales ended up at 81.4%. The sharp line upward starting in just the last third of the month around January 22 for each of these charts tells us February better watch out because diners are ready!

About these metrics: The MarginEdge monthly snapshot of DC Metro restaurant sales is based on a sampling of 300+ area restaurants ranging from fast-casual to full-service.